I’m also looking for suggestions and inspiration about monsters, items and especially spells.
I want classic RPG style spells, but they should be new and interesting, so not just “fireball”, perhaps “fire whip” or “lava droplets”.
There are three types of magic:
Fire-Plant-Storm
Using the following colours:
Red-Green-Blue
Fire includes the following influences:
fire, lava, blood, the heart, stamina, animals, rage, ash, dryness, smoke, darkness and light
Plant covers:
plants, fungus, disease, poison, acid, healing, growth, food and life energy, re-animation of unliving things, energy drain
Storm covers:
water, ice, wind, air, lightning, sound, shocks and stimulation, extinguishing, soothing sleep and cooling mist, protection, antimagic
Magic will be handled by using items, wands, rods, scrolls, books, potions and poultices.
There may also be a number of simple magics that can be taken as feats, such as read magic, identify item, or counterspell duel (where you attempt to drain an enemy magic user’s ability to cast spells before they can use them on your party).
I want magic to be quite random in the game, so not every 1st level wizard starts with magic missile, but instead they will soon find a scroll or book with a spell that they can use. It might be a powerful spell that drains all their mana and leaves them stunned for several rounds, or it could be something they can cast a dozen times with little effect.
The game will be random in giving out treasure, so if the magic is random too, the player can get a very different exerience every time they play, and will need to develop new tactics each time too.
All low power spells will be both weak and affect a small target area.
All mid power spells will be one of the following:
weak but affecting a large area,
strong but with a single target,
weak but with a long duration,
strong but indiscriminate in thier targeting,
strong but with a high chance of failing,
weak but exploiting a key weakness of an enemy,
weak but performing a key part of game play (creating food, water or reparing equipment for example).
High power spells will do all the things that mid power spells can’t.